Just wanted to tell everyone about a problem that stole 1 or 2 hours of my life.

I just installed Windows 7 on my primary PC, which has a USB printer attached. I then went to set up network printing so that my secondary XP PC could print through the Win7 PC to the USB printer. Both my primary and secondary PCs have four user accounts configured, with the same passwords used on both PCs. This arrangement was working fine when my primary PC was running Vista.

I configured the network as described in Woody Leonhard's 11/5 Windows Secrets article. This worked very well, and in no time I was able to print from the XP PC to the USB printer connected to the Win7 PC. I tested this on my and my wife's accounts with success.

The next day, my son informed me that he couldn't print. Sure enough, from his account on the XP PC, I could not see the networked printer. All other accounts could print perfectly. Why couldn't my son print from his XP account?

The answer is that my son, who feels that he has nothing to hide, never established a password on his user accounts. While this caused no problems with Vista, apparently Win7 won't allow sharing to an XP account with no password. Once my son put passwords on his accounts (on both PCs), he was able to print with the rest of us!

apparently Win7 won't allow sharing to an XP account with no password.

While the "passwords" method certainly works, Win7 WILL allow sharing to an XP account without passwords. My home network consists of XP, Vista and Win7 machines and NONE of them have passwords. I have no problem sharing files or printers with any of the machines.

JohnA Child's Mind, Once Stretched by Imagination...Never Regains Its Original Dimensions

While the "passwords" method certainly works, Win7 WILL allow sharing to an XP account without passwords. My home network consists of XP, Vista and Win7 machines and NONE of them have passwords. I have no problem sharing files or printers with any of the machines.

That's interesting. I guess I don't fully understand when not having an account password will work vs. when it will cause problems. All I know is that my son couldn't print from the XP PC when he didn't have passwords, but now that he has passwords, he can print.

It would be interesting to fully understand how Windows 7 decides that it will or will not restrict access.

That's interesting. I guess I don't fully understand when not having an account password will work vs. when it will cause problems. All I know is that my son couldn't print from the XP PC when he didn't have passwords, but now that he has passwords, he can print.

I don't know the answer to that either Steve, but as Stuart has mentioned, this has been as issue for many users with XP, Vista and now Win 7. The problem is not universal but the easiest way to solve it (as you have discovered) is to enforce passwords on all of the computers. Why this is required for some but not for others - I have no idea.

JohnA Child's Mind, Once Stretched by Imagination...Never Regains Its Original Dimensions